3Q’s 2018 Predictions: Creative Design

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As we head full-steam into 2018, our experts look ahead to the next 12 months and dish up some well-informed predictions on industry trends and shifts. Today’s predictions come from our Creative team experts, starting with…

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“Demand for social video content, for both DR and brand awareness, will reach a tipping point in 2018, prompting increased pressure on agencies and content providers to find ways to develop high-quality but inexpensive video content.”

Aaron Bart, Vice President of Creative Services

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“The spread of fake news and online fraud, including the Equifax breach, have brought suspicion and wariness in online content to consumers. Brands will have to work harder to earn their trust, and rely on technology like Blockchain and smart algorithms, to keep a watchful eye on their online presence.

As AI becomes more and more humanlike, the concept of brand “voice” takes on a new meaning. Is Siri forever going to be synonymous with Apple? How will Alexa change consumer’s perception of Amazon? What happens if an AI goes rogue like Microsoft’s Tay, who quickly got enamored with Nazi ideology and kittens? In my opinion, it will be important for brands to keep investing in their human voice as well, to maintain human consumer’s loyalty.”

Julia Thiel, Creative Director

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Photo cred: https://imgur.com/gallery/QnrMn4g

“Brands have to represent themselves on more and more platforms with different dimensions. My prediction for 2018 is the increased need for responsive logo designs, beyond the traditional logo and stacked formats. One artist has reimagined some logos for iconic brands to illustrate this point.”

Samatha Trieu, Visual Graphic Designer

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Design studio Legwork’s clever mixture of illustration and photography with different graphic styles on their About page.

“The average consumer is constantly bombarded with more content than he or she can fully digest and must make the conscious choice to spare a moment of attention. To stand out among stock and generic imagery, brands will attempt to vouch for their authenticity with more personalized methods, including shooting their own photos, creating custom illustrations, and integrating photography, illustration, and graphics.”

Casey Tsen, Junior Designer

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To reiterate the need for strong, differentiated branding in 2018, we close out our creative predictions with:

“It’s a given that branding is important. To have a unique brand, companies should invest in their own photography rather than use stock photos. More and more we see similar stock photos being used by different companies, and it’s embarrassing. My prediction is that companies will put their brand in the forefront and create original photography or branding assets like illustrations that are specific to themselves.”

Amanda Trieu, Visual Graphic Designer

About the author

Kelly Whelan

Kelly joined the 3Q team in October of 2016. Originally from Mountain View, California, she graduated with a Marketing Management degree from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Since then, she has had the honor of supporting the marketing efforts of several great Silicon Valley-based companies, including AppDynamics, Granicus, UXPin, and 3Q Digital. She now resides in Austin, where she enjoys warm summers, great music, and breakfast tacos.